MATTAPOISETT — St. Anthony’s and St. Rita’s worked together to transform the Parish Hall in St. Anthony’s into a winter wonderland for their Church Christmas fair on Dec. 1

The event featured many different tables for children and parents to frequent, food, and the chance to visit with Santa.

For parents there was a basket raffle, a cash raffle, a greens table that sold wreaths, a holiday shop, outside jewelry, pottery and clothing vendors, and the Ornament of the Year table. For kids the fair offered a chance to decorate cookies, play a game for prizes and visit with Santa. The baked goods table and breakfast and lunch served at the fair appealed to fairgoers of all ages.

The children in Faith Formation classes contributed to the raffle by putting together themed baskets for the fair to sell. Some of the basket themes included an Italian basket, a Keurig-themed “Morning Wake Up” basket, a “Baking for Christmas” basket, and a “Baby Gift” basket.

All of the money raised from the fair goes to scholarships for seniors from St. Anthony and St. Rita’s

Roni King helped found the fair in 1965.

“I was president of the Ladies Guild, and we said ‘let’s have a Christmas fair,’ and we have ever since,” King said.

Though the space in the church has changed over the years, “we still have some of the same tables, the greens, the baked goods,” King explained, adding that, “The raffle has become popular in the last 10 years.”

One of King’s pet projects at the fair is the ornament of the year, which she started in 1984. The church used to make wooden ornaments through a company, but then would have to sand, prime and paint 400 of them.

Now they have switched to having King paint a scene and sending that out to a company to produce on ceramic ornaments. For this year’s ornament King decided to paint the Wanderer, the last whaling ship made in Mattapoisett, after a fellow parishioner wrote a booklet on it.

“I didn’t even know they built whaling ships right down the street, and [the Wanderer] was the last one, in 1878,” King said.

Last year, King sold out of seahorse-themed ornaments after ordering 500 of them, so she decided to order 1,000 this year. At the fair, buyers could have King’s sister, Maggie Vallier, write their names on the back in calligraphy.